Upgrade Your Business Model

Is Your Business Model Generating More Money or More Stress?

Business model, shmizz-ness model. I used to poo poo this term until I started studying how successful entrepreneurs think and really strategize their businesses. Your business model is basically how your business makes money. For example, how you attract prospects, convert them into clients and make a profit.

If you are in a service based business, the most common business model is to work with clients on a one-on-one basis. This has its advantages and disadvantages. The upside of the one-on-one model is that someone is paying you for your help. It's a great feeling when you see the results that your clients get from taking your advice. And it becomes even better when your clients are paying you what you are worth, right?

But what happens when you have a full plate of clients and you are crazy busy? Like when you can't even get away from your desk to go to the bathroom? You don't have time to review your profit loss statement, get a massage, or even take a vacation. Bummer.

If you have a full plate when it comes to clients, I'll bet you wish you didn't have to work so hard to make about the same amount of money year in and year out. A better business model is to have scale, leverage and passive income, in addition to working one-on-one with clients.

Leveraged income is when you work with multiple clients at one time. It's not one-to-one. It's one to many.

Here's an example of how leveraged income works.

Let's say you're a nutritionist and your hourly rate is $100 an hour. If you spent the same hour and taught a one hour class with ten people paying $30, you just tripled your revenue to $300, spending the same amount of time. That's the leverage.

Here's an example of how passive income works.

Passive income is when you don't have to be actively involved in doing the work to get paid. Let's say you are an accountant. You are still looking for clients but you want to make money while you are on vacation. So you decide to create a workbook for people to use for their taxes.

Your upfront costs are $2000. This is the time it took you to write it, design it, and get it up for sale on your website. You sell it for $50. When people buy the workbook on your site, you don't have to do anything. It automatically gets shipped, and you get paid. You are drinking Mai Tais in Hawaii while people buy your product. Sweetness.

If you don't have enough clients, you need to build scalable and leveraged programs/services/products/offerings at the same time you are building up your one-on-one business. This is so huge! OMG I wish I had known this when I started in business.

So how do you do this?

Write down all of your services and package them into a few programs. Price the one-on-one service to be more expensive.

Create a passive or leveraged product and price it lower to attract more people who may want to test the waters with a less expensive product. Make sure you are pricing it to make a profit, not breakeven.

Create a line item for marketing the items in your new business model. Consider spending at least 5% of your business revenue on marketing. Why? Because if you don't, how will anyone know about your programs or want to buy them?

In these new leveraged and passive programs, create them in a way that you get paid over a longer period of time and not just once. Recurring income is super important.

As you build your empire, remember that it's OK to work one on one, but make sure your business also has leveraged or passive income components to it. It's a much better business model, and I'll bet you will be happier with the results.

Famous Mergers and Aquisitions and Hotel Chains

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) are commonplace in the world of business, some very successful in terms of revenue, and some which are spectacular failures. An acquisition is a corporate action whereby a company buys most or all of the target company's ownership stakes in order to gain control of it. There have been many famous mergers and acquisitions, resulting in increased revenue for some of the biggest firms in the world.

Disney/Pixar 2006 - This merger has proved to be very successful for both parties involved. The acquisition and merger means that the tradition of Disney could be maintained and the innovation of Pixar animations could be developed and explored further. The success of all the first six Pixar movies such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo confirmed Pixar's new style of animation as being a hit with the box office, and the heritage and tradition of Disney speaks for itself. This partnership is still going strong today.

Exxon/Mobil 1999 - This $81 billion deal was historic in the business world. Exxon, the most powerful and prolific American oil company bought Mobil, the second largest American oil company. In order to ensure that the new ExxonMobil brand did not create a monopoly in certain areas of America, they had to sell thousands of their petrol stations. Today they are still the largest oil company in the world, showing this acquisition and merger to be a great success.

Premier Lodge/Travel Inn 2004 - The Whitbread Company, who owned the Travel Inn hotel chain, decided to expand their budget hotel business by acquiring Premier Lodge in 2004. Once the two companies had merged, they created the UK's largest budget hotel chain known then as Premier Travel Inn, which has since been rebranded Premier Inn and boasts over 600 hotels including some in Dubai and India.

Mergers and acquisitions happen frequently in the hotel trade; this is how large hotel chains have developed over time. The majority of hotel owners no longer specialise in one type of hotel, e.g. budget or luxury hotels, but they have a mixture of both. The Accor hotel group for example own the budget chain Ibis as well as the luxury hotel brand MGallery. Having a varied portfolio of hotels allows the company to target a range of markets, with the ultimate view to making a success of them all. However, some hotel companies still promote luxury only hotels, such as the Sandals resorts in the Caribbean.

Why Do People Hire Charter Services?

Different players like the Australian Aviation Air charter groups now cater these services to business class people who have to travel in groups for their business meetings or conferences. Such people have no place for things like long hour waits for flights, frequent flight delays or cancellation and myriad other effects like poor connectivity. All these factors are the primary causes of air charter services.

The basic reason why these people appoint these services is due to the factors of convenience and comfort. The availability at dissimilar flights are frequently limited owing to less seat availability and other flaws in the system do make the airline service full of hassles and nuisance. On the contrary, by availing all these services could be all together a different training. You can be your own boss, and hence could move about your desired destinations as per your own schedule and flexibility. At the same time, connecting to a number of locations can be called as the best part of opting these services. You could for sure reach out to any place including the foreign or domestic locations in no time.

The other vital reason for corporate and business class people who simply depend upon these services is the amount of privacy you find from these services. If you are travelling in any conventional airline planes, you could never think of getting a proper degree of privacy, which you would be requiring during the travel. For business class or corporate people, every succeeding is imperative, so how can they miss to waste the time they get in their travel. They could just want to check the review of effects which need to be discussed in the forth-coming meeting for which they are flying at their desired destinations. For such effects, airline planes are useless. However, this is not the case with charter planes; here you get the best privacy.

The other vital factor is the cost. You may feel surprised hearing that these services are called as reasonably priced choice, as you frequently associate with a rich man's facility. However, the fact is these services could be called as reasonable provided you are travelling in an assembly and in large numbers. This could be true when you have to attend any of your business conference or meeting along with a large number of your employees or simply going to any holiday destination with your family or friends for a good time.

Things You Should Require For Your Business Currency Exchange

As a business traveler, and someone who conducts deals with people from countries both near your home country and farther away, you need to find the best business currency exchange in order to keep sales flowing smoothly, and keep costs down for your company. Here are a few of the things you should look for when comparing different currency exchange companies to work with.

First, what kind of support does the company offer? Do they have educational materials, information, and other things you can easily and quickly access when you need it? Often you will get to work with a dealer who will help you navigate through deals and can answer your questions, but in the event that person is not available, are there other places you can access information when you need it?

Second, talk to the company about what kind of software they are using. You want to be working with companies that are on the cutting edge of their field, because those are the people who will be able to offer you the most comprehensive service at the best prices. Companies that work efficiently with up-to-date software for business currency exchange are likely going to offer you the best possible options for every trade you make.

Next, look at the costs. If possible, track the costs and compare each company to one another. Every penny that you can save in one area is money you can spend where it really matters in your business, not on fees and other hidden costs. Some firms will pay people on commission, while at others the brokers make money on the difference between what buyers desire to pay and what the sellers want to charge (called "pips"). Disclosure rules in this case can be very different, so it's important to compare all the costs side by side and find out where you can save the most money.

Finally, look at their customer service. Any company can say they offer great customer service, but put it to the test in advance. Talk to the company about their customer service policies, look up reviews online, and talk to other customers who have used the same service. Try to find a company where there is a pattern of positive feedback from prior customers.

When you need a reputable company for business currency exchange, these methods can help you decide and make the difference between being unsatisfied, marginally satisfied, or delighted with your partner.

Gloves For Cold Weather Workers

Protection is the main concern of every human being and it is the foremost preference of every live entity. In most of countries weather is keep on changing and in different months of the year it demands different stuffs of outfits. Similarly the workers who usually work in outdoor require different safety measures if compare to the indoor workers requirements. In cold weather the workers hand protection that not only keep their hands safe from the possible dangers of the job but also protect the hands from the sever cold in open place.

The workers of cold countries or in cold climate who are to work outside the four walls wear special hand covering that keep their hands warm enough to carry out their task conveniently. The cold weather is in it self a hindrance to perform the laborers' work and their performance really get lower if hands are not given proper covering. For the workers there are gloves made of materials that comfort the wearer with the protection necessary to undertake a task.

Tightly woven hand covering of naturally produced yarn is considered the best choice for such workers. They are light in weight and thus do not hamper the working of the wearer. The material is natural and let the hands remain dry due to their ability to absorb the secretion of body. This feature is also making people to work without the risk of slipping the tools from hands. This material is also used in other than cold weather countries because of the comfort they offer to the wearer. People prefer them on the basis of different reasons that make sense. This type of knitted hand garment serves the needs of the workers in many ways. Workers in the industry also can wear it as lining under the gloves of other material.

The producers also use lining techniques to widen the scope of this product usage. Different workers' requirements in cold weather push the manufacturers to couple jersey material with other protective linings so that the comfort and protection are achieved in a single product. The plastic dotted, PVC lining and some others are popular types of Jersey gloves. Their nice fitting and stretchable quality also make them popular among the workers of different trade. Unlike the heavier material they do not lower the performance level of the wearer.

Safety of hands is the main purpose of use of this article. The workers in different fields and industries need proper covering before they start their work. The different materials provide appropriate protection to the workers and satisfaction when they are at work. Sense of safety at work place definitely increases the performance.

Corporate Executive Car/Limo Service

Using a limo/sedan service for transport to and from the airport saves the busy corporate executive from the added hassle of trying to move through unfamiliar traffic systems on his own, or having to get a taxi, or wait for a shuttle. With an executive sedan/limo, you can count on safety and professionalism while you get some work done, or simply relax, on your way in from the airport. Expert drivers can deliver in style! They will take care of you and your luggage from the pick-up point to your final destination. They are aware of any particularly congested traffic areas, or roads under construction along a route, and can avoid any trouble in getting you where you want to go, when you need to be there.

When looking for the right car and driver, consider the number of people travelling with you, and how much luggage there will be to contend with. A good service will have vehicles ranging from luxury sedans to minibuses, available for any size party. Hiring a chauffeured SUV might be just the thing for a business team. It can give you time to put your heads together, and exchange ideas, while making sure that everyone gets to the meeting safely, and on time.

Another consideration should focus on the driver himself make sure he is aware of the goings on in the area, can recommend restaurants, and is up on the entertainment scene. You may want to wine and dine a client, or even find time to do some sightseeing for yourself. A knowledgeable driver will be able to let you visit the high spots in a timely manner.

Adaptability is a must! The ever present possibility of a last minute change in plans in a businessman's hectic schedule requires it. A car and driver will have to be ready and waiting, even if times and dates change.

Experience is always an asset in choosing a service. A busy executive wants to be sure that the people he's counting on are used to dealing with clients on the corporate level. Asking for references is a good practice.

Look for a service that specializes in corporate transportation. Such a company will be able to cater to the busiest of executives. A daily itinerary may consist of meetings at various locations around town. The convenience of having a car and driver at your disposal will allow time to sit back and refresh between appointments, or add any last minute touches to an important presentation you might be making that day.

If your company should be hosting an event, and clients are coming in from all over, you will want to provide them with a luxury ride to the chosen venue. An executive ground travel service, with all the amenities, can impress your client, and let him know that you consider him worthy of special treatment. Some of your clients may be well-known, even famous, people. The good taste and privacy afforded by a car limo, and driver, can avoid exposure to publicity, while ensuring safety and privacy. Safety is a definite concern for the protection of clients who may be carrying valuables. Hiring a corporate car limo service will create a positive reflection of your company, and your clients will most certainly be favorably impressed.

Two Reasons The Miami Luxury realty Market Is Among the most effective choices within the us..

People who need to mix business and pleasure can notice that the Miami luxury realty market offers the right chance for anyone to try and do thus. In fact, those who are able to figure that out before everyone else can likely be feeling lucky as a result of the most effective deals in any property market tend to forever be among the primary ones to travel.

While there ar people who have thought-about Miami's property market to be so much too risky, there ar others WHO are able to see past the threats and find out such outstanding potentialities. those who stay skeptical regarding these opportunities ar inspired to appear into the explanations why the Miami luxury realty market is currently one among the most effective choices inside the us these days.

Impeccable Location

Location is usually one among the primary things that individuals can need to think about once it involves realty. Being found inside a part that's settled on the sea-coast of the South American state region has definitely created Miami luxury realty choices one among the foremost extremely wanted choices within the world these days, particularly among the many those who have forever unreal of having the ability to expertise life inside one among the most effective tropical paradise destination that provides clear blue skies, bright sunny days, foremost beaches, then far more.

Also, the actual fact that today's choice of Miami luxury realty choices ar set inside neighborhoods that aren't simply thought-about to be among the foremost prestigious communities inside the region however conjointly the best communities inside the country like the city of Golden Beach and therefore the South of Fifth neighborhood is unquestionably what many of us can notice extremely bountied once it comes right down to creating the proper call, particularly since property values inside these areas tend to stay stable despite turbulent economic times.

Real estate investors can forever need to form certain that {they ar|they're} able to purchase choices set inside areas that are as stable as doable so as to form certain that they maintain the profit that they expect to induce from their investment as an entire.

Positive Niche Trend

One of the necessary things folks|that folks|that individuals} have to be compelled to look at realty opportunities is what variety of people ar occupancy on it explicit market. within the case of Miami luxury realty, the rise in variety of made property consumers and investors has tested to be indicative of positive market health.

It conjointly helps to recollect that almost all of those people tend to rent skilled analysts to appear into their markets of interest before creating any purchase.

How to Write and Win the Grant

Introduction 

Grant writing is an art form. Why? Because the grant writer who wins the grant is the one who writes the best story of need, and who also presents the best plan of action to satisfy that need.

If non-profit or social entrepreneur organizations are in need of a grant, there are a few procedures they can use to expedite the process. The first thing is to realize that there is a secret to winning great grants. That secret is that funders don't give money to the organization for what the organization wants to do, but they give them money to do what they want done.

So what does that look like on paper? Well, it's a picturesque display of writing that lets the funder know that you want to provide the program, product, or service that they are willing to pay for. This becomes a marriage, and as you know, without the compatibility of a good partnership of the grantee, grantor, and stakeholders who benefit from the services, the marriage or, in this case, the grant funds, may not take place..

Before Writing the Grant 

Before attempting to write a grant it is important to understand the vocabulary used in the grant writing community. This is as easy as going online and researching grant writing terms.

Secondly, you want to be sure that you have the regulatory requirements met for legally operating your organization. This includes your licenses and permits, EIN Number, Duns number, and state and federal recognitions.

When you have located your organizational records and registrations then you are ready to organize your team. Your team should include representatives from all stakeholders. In soliciting stakeholder participation, locate partners that compliment your program, including potential members, their contributions and their contact information. Once this is established, you are ready to assign duties to the final grant team who will help with the research and preparation of the grant.

Writing the Grant 

Before you write anything, you want to make sure that you have a grant that will go the distance. That means conducting what I call the grant test. Here are a few questions to ask before you write.

1. What is the name of the grant? 

2. Who is the agency giving the grant? 

3. What is the identifying information of the grant? 

4. When is the grant due? 

5. Is a match required? 

6. How many grants are they funding? 

7. What is the award ceiling? 

8. What is the award floor?

Once you have answered those questions and you are happy with your answers, it is time to engage your grant writing team. Otherwise, you could waste a lot of time, energy or money on a grant that just won't fit your situation.

When you have found the perfect grant, you want to determine what are the requirements of the organization and develop the components of your grants to match them.

Even though grant proposal instructions are technical and each one is different, this is not rocket science. You can take the mystery out of grant writing by understanding that there are really only 4 components to the majority of grants as listed below:

Part 1: Executive Summary 

Part 2: Narrative 

Part 3: Budget & Budget Narrative 

Part 4: Supporting Documents

In part 1, the executive summary briefly answers the questions, who, what, when, where, why, and how much money do you need.

Secondly, part 2 or the Narrative thoroughly expands on the answers above and adds the questions how will you develop, implement and evaluate the program to meet the needs of your target audience.

The budget & budget narrative explains in detail how you will spend the money over the grant period.

Lastly, the supporting documents will support and verify all of your statements within the grant.

Finally, if you use the tips and tools above your grant writing should be much easier. You can also research sample grants similar to your project to use as examples using your favorite search engine.

business

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Eight Things Event Planners Must Budget For

In my over thirty years of planning many hundreds of events, conferences and conventions, I have discovered, often the hard way, many of the pitfalls and potential pitfalls involved in successfully planning effectively. One of the areas that has the greatest amount of ramifications involves meaningful budgeting, so as not to be unhappily surprised during the event. While there are many other factors that a professional event planner with negotiating expertise plans for during the early and continuing budget phases, these eight seem to be perhaps the most continuously overlooked.

1. Never assume anything will be done, unless it has been specifically agreed to. While you might assume that something is obvious and necessary, when it comes to event planning, doing so is often dangerous and potentially disastrous. One example is many inexperienced planners assume that if their contract reads that there is a complimentary microphone, that means there is no cost for audio- visuals related to the microphone. In most cases, that is anything but true, and organizations find themselves billed for microphone hookups, audio- visual personnel monitoring, hookups to central system, etc. Make sure the language in the contract is crystal clear, even if it might otherwise seem unnecessary. Another example may come from the area of bringing in outside contractors versus using the hotels services. While the rate may appear lower, the add- on charges imposed may end up not making it worthwhile.

2. Planners must evaluate data from previous events, to enhance their understanding of what they need. What does this group use a lot of, and what seems less important? By doing so, a planner and negotiator may effectively prioritize their demands/ requests.

3. Remember that everything is negotiable. Always ask because either you may get it, or if not, you can treat it as a giveback that then permits you to let the other side feel like they've won one!

4. You must take into account breakage/ attrition. While effective event planners usually end up with considerably less attrition than inexperienced ones do, because they take measures to address that area (and are better at accurately forecasting and estimating), professionals always budget for attrition to be on the safe/ conservative side when it comes to their budget. In the industry, the rule of thumb is generally to budget with a ten percent (10%) attrition rate built into the numbers.

5. Negotiate to pay for actual usage or consumption in areas where there is generally high costs and ways to actually measure. Pouring iced tea or lemonade at the table (or having pitchers available on the table) can often be negotiated, either as a complimentary item, or minimal cost. On the other hand, when sodas are included, costs go up quite a bit. In that case, organizations should create a system and a pre- negotiated discounted rate per soda, and a measuring system in place.

6. Beware of over charges or surprises. If a contract has not been properly negotiated, there is often a flurry of little unexpected charges. In a multi- day event, event organizers should have a review system in place on a minimum of a daily basis, to review the previous days charges. Never be afraid./ embarrassed to ask for details/ explanations about any charge you may not understand.

7. Expect contingencies and plan for them. There is always something that comes up, so the better prepared and ready for them, the better off you are. I generally recommend at least a five to ten (5- 10%) "fudge factor" to be prepared from a financial/ budgetary perspective.

8. Remember those extra/ additional charges that hotels invariably charge. Have all additional charges spelled out in detail in the contract, and have language prepared that these are the only additional charges that will apply for this event/ conference. Often, taxes and service charges alone, for example may account for close to 30%. Be sure to adjust your budget to include those costs, because imagine how difficult it is to address that amount of unexpected costs.

These are only the very basic types of items to consider in preparing a budget for an event. Those planners who create a meaningful budget consistently have more successful end results!

With over 30 years consultative sales, marketing, training, managerial, and operations experience, Richard Brody has trained sales and marketing people in numerous industries, given hundreds of seminars, appeared as company spokesperson on over 200 radio and television programs. He's negotiated, arranged and organized hundreds of events.

Why Go to a Wedding Expo?

At a wedding expo, there are endless vendors who offer services ranging from wedding limousine hire to food catering and invitations. When I was a bride, I never went to one. I lived in Wales at that time. For the most part I was finishing my final year of university. In the holidays, the groom had found three places on his own for us to look at. We went to a local party/print shop to pick out invitations. They could also have designs printed on napkins.

Back in Wales, I worked on making my own dress. Everyone was a bit dubious if I could achieve such a feat since I had little experience in dress making. I had never made anything except for a knitted top as a class project in primary school! I was inspired by another girl who threw together a dress for a university dance. She claimed you could do it with "sticky tape and glue." At one point she put it out in a small cement court yard so she could spray paint it! It was completely haphazard but she was just having a go. When she finally showed up at the university ball, I was amazed! She gave me the confidence to have a go at doing it myself. I reasoned - if she could do that, I could do that too!

I never even thought about hiring a car for the wedding. I never thought to ask for a limousine when my parents offered to hire a car. They actually called an airport car transfer company. It was basically a simple town car. I would have happily stuck myself in the back of a small run -down car that belonged to a friend and bridesmaid, without a clue! Neither did we hire a getaway car. The wedding and reception were in the same place and we drove off to another state in our own car which the groomsmen decorated.

Looking back at my ignorance, I would have to say that a wedding expo can help so that even if you do not use any of the services offered at a particular expo, you know what is available. You might find some really great vendors and can book their services in advance for your special day. Or if you are a D.I.Y. type, you can get some fuel for your creativity - even dress making.